U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,504 to MacGregor, et al., incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference, discloses various "secure on-pack promotional coupons." Such coupons include concealed promotional materials and may be secured to packaging of consumer products. In one embodiment of the assemblies described in the MacGregor, et al. patent, the coupons consist of a set or series of labels, each label formed of a base portion, an intermediate (promotional) portion, and an outer portion.
Repeatedly emphasized in the MacGregor, et al. patent is the requirement that the promotional coupon be
secured to a product by water soluble adhesive, so that the purchaser of the product must run water over the label or coupon in order to expose the coupon . . . and remove it from the product.
See MacGregor, col. 1, lines 56-60; see also id., col. 2, lines 20-23; col. 4, line 67 through col. 5, line 6. According to the MacGregor, et al. patent, this requirement purportedly deters "persons from removing or tampering with the labels prior to purchasing the products." See id., col. 1, lines 63-65. It is, moreover, based on the assumption that water (or other liquid) is of only "limited availability . . . in stores." See id., line 61.
While not necessarily erroneous, the assumption made in the MacGregor, et al. patent is inconsistent with certain present-day practices. For example, grocery and convenience stores (among others) now often include freestanding displays in which plastic beverage bottles are wholly or partially immersed in ice water. Conventional coolers and other containers similarly surround bottles with ice water in many cases. In each of these instances, promotional coupons of the type disclosed in the MacGregor, et al. patent may lose their integrity through immersion in or contact with water. As the water contacts the promotional coupons, the effectiveness of the water-soluble adhesive is diminished, resulting in premature separation of the outer portion from the remainder of the assembly and undesired exposure of the intermediate (promotional) portion.
Moreover, some types of plastic and other bottles are cleansed with hot water after all labelling is affixed. This cleansing is also likely to disturb the water-soluble adhesive used in the promotional coupons of the MacGregor, et al. patent and precipitate loss of integrity of the overall label assembly. Again, the result is premature separation of the outer portion and exposure of the promotional material.
Among initial attempts to solve this problem associated with water baths was utilizing a film to attach a paper game piece to a bottle. The larger film, to which adhesive was applied to the perimeter of its underside, effectively sandwiched the game piece against the outer surface of the bottle. Any defect in applying the film to the bottle permitted water to seep beneath the film into contact with the paper game piece, however, diminishing its viability as a solution to the problem.